The present invention relates to a multifunction electrical cooking appliance.
The technical field of the invention is that of cooking appliances of the type that use a common heater base to combine functions such as fryer and grill, or grill and steam cooker.
The heater base generally comprises a slab enabling removable cooking receptacles to be centered and held, together with heater means, either in the form of a resistance element positioned over a reflector, or else external thereto.
Electrical fryers are known that are sold in particular in the United States as xe2x80x9cskilletsxe2x80x9d. Some of them include a grill version, giving the options of browning and of grilling.
Cooking appliances are also known such as that described in patent application GB 2 256 788 in which the heater base is constituted by a support having a central opening for receiving heat externally as given off by the flame of a gas appliance; the heater base can receive two types of removable cooking support element, one of which is a pan and the other of which is a grill capable of being used separately or in combination, with or without a lid, thus enabling various types of cooking to be performed, and in particular including steam cooking.
The invention seeks to enlarge and improve the uses and functions of appliances of those types while also ensuring that the elements occupy a minimum amount of space in storage.
Thus, the appliance in question comprises, in conventional manner, a heater base, at least two removable cooking support elements capable of being centered and held on said heater base, one of them being constituted by a pan and the other by a grill plate with a smooth or grooved bottom, and a removable lid suitable for closing the top portion of said pan or grill plate so as to make a cooking enclosure.
Said grill plate is provided with at least one through orifice and has means enabling it to be positioned over said cooking pan in order to perform steam cooking inside said cooking enclosure.
According to the invention, said heater base includes an electrical resistance and said lid, said cooking pan, said grill plate, and said heater base are nestable one in another.
The grill plate performs its primary function as a grilling support with the through orifice allowing cooking juices and fat to flow through it to a collecting receptacle situated beneath.
Alternatively, when the grill plate is positioned above the pan, inside the cooking enclosure, in other words when the pan is closed by the lid, then the grill plate serves as a support for food that is to be subjected to steam cooking. Once the pan has been filled with the water required for this method of cooking, the through orifice in the grill plate then serves to pass the steam that results from the water in the pan boiling.
The appliance of the invention is thus transformable so as to be capable of constituting any one of the following three structures supported by said heater base:
1) a fryer made up of said pan optionally closed by the lid;
2) a grill made up of said grill plate, optionally closed by the lid, and of a receptacle for collecting cooking juices and placed beneath it; and
3) a steam cooker made up of said pan, said grill plate closed by the lid being positioned above said pan.
Preferably, the grill plate has multiple orifices so that the hot steam comes directly into contact with the food, e.g. vegetables or fish, as supported by the grill plate and prior to being distributed throughout the top portion of the enclosure, i.e. the volume that is available between the top surface of the grill plate or the food and the top of the lid.
In addition, since the appliance and its accessories can be nested in one another they present a reduced requirement for space both while in use and during storage; preferably all of the accessories, namely the lid, the cooking pan, and the grill plate are receptacles whose hollow shapes can thus be nested in one another, with their main walls being superposed and possibly even coming directly into contact one on another so as to reduce the space occupied by said accessories in storage.
Thus, in a preferred embodiment, the grill plate has a flared side wall of S-shaped section forming two successive rims, namely an inner, first rim adapted firstly to bear against a rim of the heater base for the grill function and secondly to support a bearing surface of the lid for the grill function and for steam cooking, and an outer, second rim adapted to bear against an outer rim of the pan when operating as a steam cooker.
In this manner, the grill plate can perform its two functions, one in a low position supported by the heater base and the other in a high position supported by the cooking pan, the lid resting on said inner or first rim of the grill plate.
In the high position, because its outer rim bears against the outer rim of the cooking pan, the grill plate is positioned inside the volume that is defined by the pan. When the two receptacles are stacked in this way there is therefore no additional volume requirement, since the volume of the enclosure remains identical in frying mode and in steam cooking mode.
Other features and advantages will appear in the light of the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention given by way of a non-limiting example.